Seijiro smiles at Jack's interplay with Dhaavan and watches the bird take off to scout.

"He gonna be okay? I know he's small and all that, but he's not invisible... Anyway, maybe while he's scouting up there, we should just check the beach area here for signs of anything coming up out of the surf." True to his own suggestion, he looks around the beach area for any signs other than the party's own.

perception:1d20 + 5 ⇒ (1) + 5 = 6

Unfortunately, he finds nothing other than his own footsteps.

"I'm afraid I'm not much good at this tracking thing... sad, because I used to hunt with my father when I was a boy. I guess it's been a long time and I'm not so skilled as he was. Sorry."

"Well lass - what do you say; seems like maybe Variel's plan may have some merit, if you're up for it."

"Meantime - you got a plan for the skiff and water casks? We probably don't want them busted or broken, eh?"

"Well Val - how about it? You want to take lead when we hit sand, or leave it to Rain - or maybe the two of you push forward while ol' Sko brings up the rear?" I add, wondering curiously what our marching order will be, once we get to land.

Rain had agreed to the aerial view undertaken by Dhaavan's thrush, Jack. She did not speak the strange language they seemed to share, so she would leave it to Dhaavan or Flynn to translate.

"We can pull the skiff ashore and drag it behind the rocks and cover it with palm leaves and forest litter. The same can be done with the water casks."

She listened as Variel and Flynn exchanged ideas and suggestions, with Jiro recommending and agreeing quietly beside them.

"The more experienced trackers should lead - myself and then Variel. I say we place Dhaavan in the middle of the group -- then he is nestled securely between us and has cover from two sides. Land is not Sko's usual battleground, from what I have seen of his shark transformations, so taking the rear and providing both support and strength is wise. I would have Valeros in the centre near Dhaavan. His wooden leg may prove a hindrance in the forest, but also he is one of our healers and must be in proximity to all in the group. Flynn stay close to Variel and I up front with your musket, and Jiro between Valeros and Sko. Jiro your eyes will be most useful in that position -- you may catch what we may not in the front."

Jack flies up into the sun and disappears as you ready the cutter for launch. Dropping it down to the sea with a series of pulleys and winches you get the small single masted boat into the water. Climbing down the rope ladder you all settle in with 4 large empty barrels settled in the bottom. This takes a while and Jack returns just as you are making your way towards the norther portion of the island closest to where the Man's Promise is hung up.

Jack is breathing a bit heavily and says I took a quick look at the island but no tracks. The island is shaped almost like the moon with a swampy section to the east. The west is a jungle with big cliff line and you can see the large rock mountain thing over to the left on the northern most tip of the island. The island has lots of reefs and the north side we are approaching is only safe side to approach I thinks.

Tried keeping him talking with an Int of 6. I hope I did him justice. More details to come. Having a kind of crappy day.

Sko nods at Rain's request that he take the rear. He's actually a fairly decent tracker on sea or land but he's fine deferring to the others here. He's wearing his armor and has his scythe resting on his shoulder. As they move, he focuses mostly on whats to the sides and behind them but isn't above double-checking the trackers up front to make sure they don't miss anything.

You all make it to the beach without incident through the maze of reef. Pulling the cutter up onto the sand you notice a series of collapsed mud huts on the tree line with the jungle. They look very old, perhaps even several decades. Behind them is a small, overgrown path that leads into the jungle. To your left about 1/2 a mile down the beach is the spire of rock, it is about 100 feet high and looks very craggy and rocky. It has a slope to it from this side and looks as if it would be a pretty easy climb DC 10 to get to the top, where you would have an excellent vantage of the whole island.

Well Rain, should we head over to the rock and climb up to see what the lay of the island is? Perhaps some can search the huts here while a couple of us climb up the rocks. Only a half mile away and a hundred feet high we should be able to get to each other if soemone disturbs something hostile.

Providing that Rain agrees, Variel will start heading to the rock and climb up taking 10. Once on top he'll look out across the island.
perception 1d20 + 2 ⇒ (9) + 2 = 11 yep there is a swamp, jungle, and cliff

Immortal, would Variel have had a chance to reprep spells at all before they left? dont know the timing of everything or if they had a chance to rest 8 hours before the roll call or not? If not then no big deal, was thinking about switching out featherfall is all.

You were not able to rest while battling the storm but you still have any spells you had from yesterday. You are not fatigued for now by the way but you will probably have to make checks before long while pushing yourself like climbing the rock and pushing through jungle and bog. Essentially you have about two hours of time before you start to be fatigued. Walking to the rock and climbing it will take about 20-30 minutes in total assuming no mishaps. Variel I will say what you find when I find out what the others want to do.

Valeros splashes into the surf and proceeds to help haul the boat up onto shore. Getting it settled and secure, he scans the island before them as he feels the warm sand beneath his foot. His peg sinks into the sand and he unconsciously lifts some of his weight off that side to balance it.

Looking towards the spire and its slope, he gives a nod in that direction. Certainly couldn't hurt to take a look. Anyone fancy a hike?

Firstly, I will assist with the unloading of the skiff for supplies. As we are now on the beach, seeing the remains of the village, it occurs to me that storing things in one of the huts may be a safe course of action, as they seem abandoned. But I will not seek any specific hut – trusting to the group at this time.

Something is bothering me about this village, and its proximity to the swamp.

The village remained, but the populace did not.

If the Grindy’s sacked the village and killed the people – why not destroy the buildings outright? There seems no sign of a fight, and no evidence of conflict at the village itself. Rather, the folk are dead and the buildings remain.

I know of many ways to kill people without hurting objects as doctor, and seeing the proximity of the jungle, my mind tacks to a possibility – plague.

Jungles are often rife with fever; diseases such as the flux and malaria are common.

I think of the irony of the word “malaria” – from the Draconic, malaria literally means “Bad Air”, because it was an assumption in the old days before we became more learned in science that certain pockets of swamp gasses or “bad air” near swamps carried the disease into the homes of local residences. Shutting your windows tightly from the gasses seemed to alleviate the issue.

Of course – we later learned that it was not gasses, but the bloodsucking bites of vermin that shared the disease. Shut window kept out the vermin, giving rise to the belief that was truly the air. Even so – there may be vermin that spread such disease on this island.

As there seems to be no direct threat – for now I’ll sheathe my sword, and make some adjustments.

Despite the sweaty heat, I shall do what I can to make sure that my body is covered to the wrists in my clothes (I am currently armored). Further, I’ll pull back my long hair and cinch it into a tight “bun” so it does gather any loose strands or falling bugs to crawl in. Once that is completed, I will then take a loose wrap from my kit and wrap it around my neck and face and head – much like a desert man would use an Osirioni Keffiyeh. The cloth is now covering my entire face – except for my eyes.

As we have a moment to get ourselves together, I will now slowly approach the huts. We have plenty of time to examine details before we advance and possibly spoil tracks. So – despite the fact that I am no skilled tracker – I will do what I can to read the signs here.

Right – I am literally going to “Take 20” with tracking, for a net total of 21. That takes me two minutes – and we have 48 hours, so I don’t think two minutes will matter. If I can’t get any information without a roll let me know, I’ll roll a Survival and “aid” someone with more skill; preferably Rain – though if Variel is working with her – I’ll help Sko.

Meanwhile – after that action is taking, and while we plan our next move – as my face and body is now covered the best as I can make it, I will examine the houses near me; trying to find evidence of what may finished the folk. For now, I suspect even if they died – their bodies would have been long since taken, eaten, and the huts looted.

However – as we have time, I will take another two minutes to search the village.

Again – yes – another Take 20 on searching the village for information. If I have to do 5 take 20’s – plus a bit to get my crap together above – I doubt it will take more then 15 minutes all told. And 5 Natural 20 successes more than outweigh any time lost if the evidence bears fruit, in my opinion. If for some reason I can’t take any 20’s further – please let me know, I’ll re-roll things as needed later.

Taking 20 on Perception to search the village for clues. Total: 26

While I search for clues – I will also take the following actions:

1. I want to look for evidence of disease around me – I am very nervous about plague and other such things. I always have been. You get once plagued person in the tight confines of a sailing vessel – out to sea, away from help and with no port – and very quickly the whole ship is dead. Any naval surgeon would know that – and I’m not about to get diseased or let any friend of mine get diseased and infect us and come back to the ship.

So – looking for disease – or signs of it – I’ll use my knowledge of “Healing” to seek any signs of disease in the huts. Again – we have time – for this I’ll not be using my Healing Kit – and sadly I won’t be using my “Surgeon’s Tools” to look for evidence, as I don’t think I can. This puts me at a modest disadvantage – but I want to know if there are any signs of disease around – so I’ll keep an eye out for via the Perception/Heal – taking 20.

My Heal without aid is a 6; this means I should get a 26 to find if there are signs of disease around this village.

I am aware that this is not likely, and I may not find anything like that – that’s okay – just consider it social RP then. I’m doing what my character does – if any of the above helps him later with Prep Work – that’s awesome – but I’d do it either way.

While I work – I glance the jungles around me – I’ve studied a little about the wild – but those studies are – at best – academic, not field experience. Therefore, I have little to offer with a deep search – so, doing my best – I try to remember any other detail I can from the nature of such jungles in the waters near the slithering coast.

As we begin to unload the gear by the village, I sheathe my sword. I pull a cloth out of my kit and wrap my head and face in it carefully, while watching the terrain around me.

”Begging your pardon, lass – before we start advancing – can I have about five or six minutes to give this place a proper “once over”. If our friends were pinched, I’d like to check here for clues. And any other little surprises this jungle may have to offer,” I add neutrally.

I glance at the rock Variel indicated.

Seeing that it's about a half mile away - I frown a bit, and look toward Rain.

”If you don’t mind, do you suppose we can wait a bit before heading out? You're likely right about when you told us not to split up, I reckon. But unless we're all going to that rock right now, there's still some things I want to check out here first,” I add.

GM: Much of my above post may be negated depending on how or what the other party decides to do at this time. I don't want to be spending a lot of time at least half a mile away from my allies. If they advance without me instead of waiting, I will likely have to abandon my initial plans. I will roll the stuff I need - though I noticed my main roll looks good. As for the others - as I said - that depends on what happens next.

Well Rain, should we head over to the rock and climb up to see what the lay of the island is? Perhaps some can search the huts here while a couple of us climb up the rocks. Only a half mile away and a hundred feet high we should be able to get to each other if soemone disturbs something hostile.

Providing that Rain agrees, Variel will start heading to the rock and climb up taking 10. Once on top he'll look out across the island.
perception d20+2 yep there is a swamp, jungle, and cliff

Immortal, would Variel have had a chance to reprep spells at all before they left? dont know the timing of everything or if they had a chance to rest 8 hours before the roll call or not? If not then no big deal, was thinking about switching out featherfall is all.

"Begging your pardon, Val - but I asked earlier if it would be good for us to split up - I thought the orders were a negative on that? But if they aren't - well... that's a good hike to the rocks... I'm just saying - we're here now. Maybe we should take things one step at a time."

I ponder a moment.

"Still - there anything up there that's worth seeing - I reckon Jack could go over and give it the once over. Hell - even if something saw him - they'd likely just figure it was a bird flying around and dismiss it, I gather."

"He could swoop up there, give it the once over - and come back just in time for us to finish reconnoitering this village - and then, if there's anything worth noting - we could go check it out - or not."

I glance at again at the rocks.

"Don't get me wrong, it's a good suggestion to go climb the rocks I guess - but wouldn't those damn Grindy folk - being water types - be closer to the ground and water anyway? Hell - I don't know - just tossing out guesses. "

"If Jack did see something up there that'd show me I'm wrong - yeah, of course - we should step to it and give it the once over, sure. But he already flew about the place... I just don't know why'd we leg it up the rocks," I add, pleasantly - but doing my best to conceal the reason; namely - I know such climbs are hard on Dhaavan, and I am worried for him.

"Dhaavan - you up for sending Jack to scout those rocks closer, or is that not a good plan, you reckon?" I say politely, and wait for an answer.

"Anyhow - ya'll make the call on it. I'll just do my part and follow orders - either way," I add to the group as a whole. I'm not going to force people to do anything here, but it seems like taking things one step at a time may be better.

"But - yeah - I did want to look over the village a first a bit closer - if I can, before we head out."

GM I'll wait for the answers to my above questions - if I have time to get them. Meanwhile - I'l check the boards again later tonight.

Actually Rain, Jack speaks Common as well, so this time you could understand him. I spoiler when I have him use Infernal. That way he can communicate with the party.

"Dead Statue things? We aught to take a look at whatever it is hanging from the trees, see what Jack is talking about. Maybe they're something the Grindylow put up for some reason." Dhaavan mentions to the group, as those seem to be rather odd, and worth investigation. WHere are they exactly, which trees? In the swamp?

After the boat is pulled to shore, Dhaavan hops out and moves toward the huts. [spoiler=Infernal]"Jack, take a look at the huts over there, yeah? Make sure there's no ambush waiting for us"

"Lets take a look here, before heading to the top of that hill. Jack's a clever fellow for sure, but as far as a scout, there's a limit to how much we can rely on him going solo. I'd rather not have him do more that a cursory scan by himself, and we'll get a lot more detail about the island if we go up the hill together. After checking out these ruins of course," Dhaavan says to Flynn and the rest of the group while Jack is looking for an ambush.

Jack reports back, and depending on the assessment, Dhaavan and he will do a more thorough walkthrough along with Flynn and the rest, pulling his scarf over his mouth, seeing he good Doc covering his own face.
Jack and Dhaavan's "Take-20" rolls are 31 and 24 respectively to look for signs of Grindylow and the missing party members as well as evidence of what happened to the folk here and any valuables left. Jack like the shiney!

eventually, after searching he'll go up with the group, depending on what is found. I may not be around too much today, so here's the climb rollClimb:1d20 - 2 ⇒ (15) - 2 = 13

GM sorry yer having a crappy day. Didn't get the chance to wish your grandfather the best, but i do. Good luck with everything.

Quick post from work, but I did not think that splitting up to gp see the rocks a. Half mile away was splitting the party but rather utilizing the time we have. Searching the entire village for clues might take a couple of hours based on how thoroughly you search. Not to say what you can or can't do but searching one 5ft square with a take twenty typically is 2 minutes. I don't know how long Immortal will call it, but was trying to use our time wisely as no immediate sight of Grindylows present then move on. Vroel doesnt see anything of note and figured while you inestigate at least he can get a decent lokk at thenlay of the land. Jack may know what is where, but what about distances and density of the terrain. Do as you wish however.

Quick post from work, but I did not think that splitting up to gp see the rocks a. Half mile away was splitting the party but rather utilizing the time we have. Searching the entire village for clues might take a couple of hours based on how thoroughly you search. Not to say what you can or can't do but searching one 5ft square with a take twenty typically is 2 minutes. I don't know how long Immortal will call it, but was trying to use our time wisely as no immediate sight of Grindylows present then move on. Vroel doesnt see anything of note and figured while you inestigate at least he can get a decent lokk at thenlay of the land. Jack may know what is where, but what about distances and density of the terrain. Do as you wish however.

Quick Answer; for anyone who is interested:

Well, half a mile is half a mile. Even at 5x move speed it would take you at least 3 minutes to get from the rocks back to the village - and a lot can happen in 30 rounds if we are split up (it may also take longer if you climb up, and this does not count penalties to terrain). Also - the GM mentioned that walking to the rocks and climbing them would take you 20-30 minutes. Now, if something was on the rocks jumped you - or something jumped us from the jungle - 200-300 rounds is a long time, that's all I was trying to suggest. Also - Rain specifically asked us to stay together, so I thought that was the plan for now; but I may have misunderstood her.

Regarding my taking 20 with Perception: As I mentioned in the post - this was meant to be a brief "2 minute" action - essentially walking the perimeter of the village, looking for clues and other specific details. I am certainly not planning on studying a 5x5 area - that would be "Search" not "Spot" - if we were using 3.0 rules. I mentioned that I expected to take no more than a few minutes in any case; as I didn't want to be there all day either.

As an aside - one of the other advantages of Perception is as follows: Perception is also used to notice fine details in the environment. The DC to notice such details varies depending upon distance, the environment, and how noticeable the detail is. The following table gives a number of guidelines. So my deal here was to give a wide cursory examination of the village - moving slowly - looking around - that sort of thing.

Of course - I am completely aware of the potential limitations that taking 20 can create. This is why I left it up to the GM - and asked him he wanted to have me roll. In this case, I was assuming he'd let me know either way on how he is judging this rule in this case, as I know how the rule works in the book, but I judged this as an unusual case and wanted his clarification on the matter.

As for the tracking point itself - I also mentioned to the GM that if he did not want me to "take 20" on searching for tracks - than it seemed that the best course of action would be to simply let me know, and - as I mentioned - I'd roll if appropriate to "aid" another - but I'd wait for his call. I was rushed for work, and I posted what I posted - assuming he could correct it later if he needed.

I will add now - I don't intend to push the issue on the village any further. While me and my character had both assumed that water aquatic type creatures would want to stay close to the land/sea/and swamps - and that climbing a cliff - no matter how good the view - would be counterproductive as it would be like looking down on the top of the trees from above, something I thought was redundant at this time (especially as Jack has already done it, and could do it again, if he wanted to). But as of now, I have seen enough circumstantial evidence to conclude that there is something very important on the cliff, but I don't know what it is.

It may be some hidden fortress, long destroyed, or perhaps some lost treasure of an ancient pirate crew stored there for some emergency (along with a good supply of rum :) - and if this were Treasure Island - I'd even suggest we'd also end up meeting "Ben Gunn" wandering about - the half-crazed, somewhat insane, near dead pirate that basically lost his mind when he was marooned. I have no idea, though - but I will now agree with the party; we need to go explore the rocks which are very important for some reason.

As such - I will halt the examination of the village, and simply examine the cliffs with the rest of you, unless the GM gives me some other information at this time. He may - I don't know - but if not, that's okay, too.

GM: The map you posted seems to have three distinct landmarks on them. One of them is clearly a little box on the top of a hill with a road connecting to it. The next is a small green "maze-like" structure on the southern side of the island. The third is a seeming shipwreck over the northern coast.

Do we see all 3 of these landmarks from Jack? Is the ship our own vessel, or another - and finally - is the green "maze like" thing the village, or something else?

Jack did not tell you he saw any of those things as he was sent to look for Sandara and Ratline. He gave you what he saw but he only explored within the mile radius to keep in contact with Dhaavan. I put up the map for ease but no Jack didn't describe any of those things. Yes that ship to the north is yours though and you came from it down through the reefs to the northern most shore about a half mile from the big rocky thing on the northeastern tip of the island. Right now you see jungle and a rocky spire, thats it from where you are. Jack gave you a basic rundown of what he saw but he wasn't really looking for things like that he was looking specifically for Sandara and Ratline.

As Jack is returning from looking around the village, Dhaavan suggests, "We could all take a few minutes here to look around, then head up the mountain. Division o' labor, everyone looks, then we get out of here and head up the hill?"

When the bird gets to Dhaavan he calls out

Infernal:

"See anything interesting and dangerous there, Jack?"

Jack took a cursory sweep of the village looking for stealth ed enemies and particularly interesting huts with maybe valuables cause he likes the shiny. Once we have his basic report, Then we can search the village quickly then head up the hill.

already made my rolls for these tasks, so if there's nothing jumping out at us, and folks toss up perception to search the village we can get up the cliff and do some analysis of the terrain, since a bird may not give the best information about geography. We get the info on the map once we go up the hill, yeah?

Jack did not tell you he saw any of those things as he was sent to look for Sandara and Ratline. He gave you what he saw but he only explored within the mile radius to keep in contact with Dhaavan. I put up the map for ease but no Jack didn't describe any of those things. Yes that ship to the north is yours though and you came from it down through the reefs to the northern most shore about a half mile from the big rocky thing on the northeastern tip of the island. Right now you see jungle and a rocky spire, thats it from where you are. Jack gave you a basic rundown of what he saw but he wasn't really looking for things like that he was looking specifically for Sandara and Ratline.

Very good - is it possible to get an approximate location on the map of the fishing village?

Also - I posted several questions for you above in a spoiler - but I don't know if you saw it. I did it this afternoon, though.

As I said the village looks like its been abandoned for decades and the mud huts have collapsed. You find bits of pottery and some old decayed fishing rods. Among the ruins of one of the huts, you find a small carved scrimshaw cup that looks like it came from a tea set. Worth about 50gp.

1. So - most important - no signs of disease on or around the village; nor is there evidence of any creatures in the surrounding jungles which would carry disease such as malaria, yellow fever, plague, or flux - this is a relief - but I'll still keep my "mask" on, just is case.

2. The 18 Knowledge Nature informs me that the Jungle has no signs of disease and there is no other evidence in the Jungle which surrounds the village with my examination that would lead me to believe there are any threats.

3. I have seen no signs or evidence of signs tracks on or around the village itself.

4. With this information in mind - I am able to now conclude that the village has nothing in it to help our friends - and the best course of action would be to advance forward to the Cliffs and then climb them; and not waste time here.

Very good. Thank you.

Meanwhile - I shall keep the 50 GP scrimshaw - but only for now. I'll reveal it to my allies once we get off the island - for now, such trivium is inconsequential - and we're in a rush, in any case.

"Well - it seems I owe you an apology," I say to the group.

"I have found nothing to help our cause is the village, except some trinkets. But we can deal with those later... Meanwhile - as it seems that everyone is very eager to scout the cliffs - then let's do it!" I add enthusiastically, and follow my comrades as they head now for the cliffs.

Sko shrugs. "We have two days and this island does not seem very large. I doubt a few minutes here or there will make much difference. With luck, we'll be able to see anything of importance from higher ground."

No - as I said, this was meant to be a cursory examination of the village. I wanted to see if there was information which would suggest how it was wiped out. Sentient beings would have likely raided it of value - and also, I assumed they would have used force to burn it to the ground. That it still stands suggests that the village may be intact because the folk died off - what caused them to "die off"? I worried for plague or disease.

Having found no such evidence - and knowing that my companions are eager to move on - I shall advance with them, not going into the jungles around me.

Unless I see signs of Ewok Pirates - in which case, I shall try to befriend one and have him come with us by offering him some crackers.

Sko shrugs. "We have two days and this island does not seem very large. I doubt a few minutes here or there will make much difference. With luck, we'll be able to see anything of importance from higher ground."

I grin at Sko.

"That's the spirit, lad. Well, Jack's likely seen all that's worth seeing already, I figure, but I have a feeling that we'll find more than a nice view ahead. Besides, you know the old saying, eh? "Luck favors the bold!" Now come on, lad - I know you're "rear guard" - but don't dawdle, eh?" I say, with a wink as I hurry after my companions.

Reaching the base of the spire of rock, you see that it is craggy and weather worn. It is steeply sloped but not vertical which makes the ascent much easier. Winding your way around the north face you make the summit in little time.

Once there you are able to see the whole island laid out before you. To the south and west the island curves, a mass of jungle and swamp before it reaches a forested ridgeline that runs the western edge.

Perception DC 15:

On the ridge you can barely make out what appears to be a palisade wall poking out of the forest. It looks quite small, too small to be a settlement you'd say but maybe a small camp.

To the south, the jungle clears after a while and a stretch of land is visible. It looks like it was cultivated at one time but has long since been overgrown. It is difficult to make out any more from this distance.

On top of the spire, you find an unlit signal fire that looks like its been there for a while though you aren't sure how long. You would guess at least a few months though it is hard to tell exactly.

Seijiro points out the wall to those who might have missed it. "Look over there... it looks like a camp of some kind. Maybe we should check that out... if nothing else, a camp is likely to be near a source of fresh water."

Up on the Hill, DHaavan looks over the area.
Perception:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (6) + 4 = 10
While Dhaavan misses the walls, the others pointing them out gives him reason to look harder, responding, "That camp is place looks pretty far away, and through the jungle. Maybe we should take a better look at that abandoned village, since flynn only got a brief look around."
[ooc]GM Did dhaavan find anything in the hut he searched? Jaut trying to guage what the village is sized like and if there's anything interesting in it. ROlled some checks, so any results?

Why would there be fresh water by those walls, but not by a whole village? Wouldn't the villagers want fresh water, too? I think and was just about ready to say so, but I check myself.

Come on, mate - settle down. You've been wrong on your guessing's quite a bit at this point. Who knows, maybe there was water by the village, too - if you had bothered to look in the jungle a bit, eh? Give the lad credit where credit is due, though.

So, conceding the point that the the wall is likely to be a source of water, my puzzlement evaporates into pleasure.

"Well, Jiro-san - you have a bloody good eye, and your logic sounds damn right reasonable! Hell, it's likely we won't fight a better source of water on the island then right there; if at all, eh?," I say with a cheerful grin at his discovery - pleased at Jiro's information, now totally convinced at his reasoning about the location of fresh water near those walls.

I turn a a somewhat stern look at Dhaavan and Jack.

"Damn your eyes, Jack!" I say with some mock gruffness "We send you to scout the land a piece - how'd you miss something like that bleeding wall sticking up, if we can see it ourselves just by standing on a rock?" I add with a bit of a growl - but mostly teasing him - as he is a master of magic - not scouting.

I glance at Dhaavan, next.

"Wait - Dead Statues? Do you mean that they were statues made to look like dead folk? Or do you mean that they were something like a construct or golem, but now dead? Or where they people - now dead - that have become like statues in some rigor mortis?" I ask, somewhat confused.

"Nay - never mind - likely we'll have to go give them a once over... Still - if they were dead bodies that suffered rigor mortis - that means that it seems likely that they died recently - and as this signal fire is only about a few months old - by all accounts - that means they're likely dead in the past couple of months..."

"And if you said they were in the trees - that means either folk where climbing in the trees, died up in them, and were somehow stuck there before they rotted... Or; more likely, they were taken into the trees after the fact and put there for a purpose."

"Though the most likely solution is that they got lynched and strung up - lot of lads dance on the end of a rope for one reason or another... If they're noosed - that eases my heart a bit - It's not pretty, but it sure is the normalist way a lad can go; as opposed to the alternative, eh?" I add cheerfully.

Hearing Dhaavan's suggestion to search the village - again - I shake my head.

"Nothing for it, lad - we're looking for our mates, first - and then we've got to find water. As we got a good line on where water is sure to be - next thing we do is search for our mates. They weren't at the village - not even a track to reveal that they may have passed through... So that means that we got to cover more ground, and soon. They may be getting munched on by those damn Grindy's," I say with a dark scowl "or they may be hurting in some other way... We can't go all the way back to the village now..."

But not wanting to be rude, I add "Don't worry, though; seeing as how we got to back there anyway to fetch our skiff, it seems likely that we can stop there on the way back to the ship, see if we missed anything."

I squint again at the walls that Jiro pointed out, noting the long distance - and wishing we could just be going back to the skiff and getting out of here. But then my eyes light up a bit at the thought of the skiff.

"Hey - here's an idea," I say to the group "By all accounts those walls that Jiro-san saw are only about..." I gauge the distance from their point "roughly a mile from that western spur there," I say pointing at the far side of the island.

"Maybe we could kill two birds with one stone, eh? We go back to the village so Dhaavan can search it a piece - and then we grab the skiff and just sail around the island to the far side. It'll be a hell of a lost faster then slogging it through what looks like nearly four and a half miles of jungle and gods know what else, and; more important - if any of them Grindy's - which Miss Rain says like the water - are swimming about, chances are they'll be swimming in the ocean water near the beach, and if we see them we may find out where they're living if they make a dash for their lair to get away from us. And if they do run and we follow - we may find our mates that much sooner, eh?"

Shielding her eyes, Rain has also noted the makings of a palisade wall and hears Jiro informing the others of a possible encampment.

"Aye, I see it too Jiro. Let us go and examine what lies beyond that wall. With caution."

Rain looks about the ground for possible tracks or markings. The signal fire may be unlit but that did not mean there were no inhabitants on this small island.

[dice=Survival (via tracking)]1d20+7

"Well Miss Rain - what do you think of that plan, as you're the chief of this away team," I say, glancing at her through the slit in my head wrap, my eyes crinkling a bit.

"Do you think we ought to leg it through the swamp, jungle, and other filth - or maybe grab the skiff and just sail around the island and avoid all that hash?"

"Sailing around is a longer journey then the straight away, but I got a hunch we'll be able to row faster than walk - especially given the terrain we saw."

"Between you and me - if there's malaria, it'll be near swamps, and we saw the beginnings of swamps near the village. My opinion is that swamps are pretty foul. Not to mention malaria, there'll likely be other swampy delights - like quicksand, snakes, and possibly Dire Rats... though rodents of unusual sizes don't always congregate in every type of swamp, I suppose," I say, thinking of stories of such swamps my uncle had told me when I was a young boy and sick one summer.

"But in any case - you're the top brass in this little expedition. Jiro-san reckon's there's water near that wall - and we need water. You yourself want to go check out that wall - which seems downright sensible. But that'll mean a lot of walking, and who knows what's out there on the island; we could be attacked by unfriendlies. And it seems there may be plenty of unfriendly folk about, especially with dead things in the trees..."

"Now, to be fair, we don't know what's in the water either. Could be monster's there, too... like the Grindy's - but as we're looking for signs of them anyhow - I don't reckon that's a bad thing."

"Still - as you're the brass, I guess you're calling the shots - what do you think we ought to do, now?" I ask deferentially - waiting for Rain's orders.

If you think that it is quicker by sea than by all means lets take that approach. My only thought is that although the Grindylows won't be up above by the walled enclosure, the inhabitants may know where the Grindylows reside.

While I already recalled that point from earlier - that was the "approach" to the island. Certainly once we breached the reefs we're able to easily sail within the inside circle of the reefs - that is to say - I assumed the reefs were like a big circle around the island - then the small area of water and waves, and then the beach. We found a opening - sailed through it - and that seems to suggest to our left and right there'd be more than enough of water between the beach, and the reefs, for the low keel of a longboat?

From the map, it looks like there is bunch of little "waves" around the island, then - following the "scale" - roughly 1/2 mile from the island itself is where we see the reefs. This should give us about a half of mile to ply our boat with some ease, I assumed.

Also, as I'm looking at the map now, it looks almost like a second ship is around the southwestern end of the island. Is that a coincidence, or a glitch (draw a straight line across from the "West" point of the compass, all the way across the water, and into the "ocean" - you'll see it, I think)? But while I'm at it - if you look at the southwestern end of the island, assuming we were rowing, between this "ghost ship" and the coast, part of the beach has evaporated right near the coast.

Like, if we were actually sailing around the beach, right between this "ghost ship" and the island, it looks like "The Beach" is missing something. Again - this may be a glitch - but if I was making an accurate map, and I intentionally had no waves crashing against the side of the coast, and right next to some big rocky area like a cliff - I'd say that maybe there was some kind of cave underneath there, or an opening in the rocks for the "beach" to fill - kind of like the submarine base/cave in Indiana Jones.

That may also be a glitch, but it could be worth exploring.

If Jack was at least able to give us the details that facilitated this map, and we actually noticed a real "second ship" on the south western side, they may be another group of friendlies we could find and get help from. On the other hand, as it looks like its prow is stuck right on the level of "The Reefs" then it may have run aground, and we can try to help them - kind of like Plugg's ship - or it may be a wreck, with salvageable gear on it; I don't really know.

I know that through Jack/Our own observations we got this map - and there is enough on it now that makes me think that there could be useful stuff out to the far southwest. I also thank that we have about 1/2 a mile between the shore and the reefs - more than enough space to get a boat and just sail the coast.

However: Regarding the rest of this - I sent you a PM - please read it, it effects what I'll do next.

See my post before where I said that I put up the map for ease but you only see what I told you about in text so no you do not see the other boat because there is a huge forested ridge line in the way. Second the scale of the map isn't perfect in the sense that your ship is not 3/5 of a mile long. Essentially that would be about 3500' long so the scale isn't perfect. When I said the only safe approach is to the north I meant exactly that. It is the only safe place to get to the island that you know of. You are perfectly allowed to sail around or try and go through the reef but you risk destroying your boat. For instance those fields you saw are not a mile long and 3/5's of a mile wide they are more like symbols. The reef encircles the island in the sense that it is surrounded on all sides by reef. I'm sorry if that wasn't clear before and I will try and make sure to be more clear in the future.

If you think that it is quicker by sea than by all means lets take that approach. My only thought is that although the Grindylows won't be up above by the walled enclosure, the inhabitants may know where the Grindylows reside.

I look at Variel, nodding at his comment.

"Well - that makes sense, I guess. But if a village was wiped out - and the Grindy's managed to get to our ship to pilfer our mates - isn't it likely they hit that walled place, too? Hell - whoever built it may still be living there - but I figured if something on the island could have wiped out the village, and than decided to go out our ship - maybe they might have attacked that place, too."

But I shrug a little.

"On the other hand - maybe the walls are tough enough to keep the Grindy's from attacking - and we may find some decent mates there to help us with Plugg... Grateful types, I'd wager - if we can get 'em off the island."

"But as for our next move - well.... I think that for now, I've said a bit - I'll leave that to ya'll," I say with a nod.

Int:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (10) + 2 = 12 Recalling that the Reefs encircle the island, Dhaavan is unsure wether or not we will have room to sail without risking the boat to the reefs r the waves.

Perception:1d20 + 4 ⇒ (10) + 4 = 14 So he takes a look at where the whitecaps indicating the reefs are, and tries to see through the water.

He whispers to Jack in Infernal"Go take a closer look and scan the coast. See if there's enough room for us to sail between the Reefs and the coast so we don't get caught in the waves. and keep an eye out for signs of Grindylow."Jack's perception:1d20 + 9 ⇒ (18) + 9 = 27
Jack will wing a ways down the coast, but less than a mile, keeping an eye on the coast and reefs, determining if there's enough room for the clipper we came in to sail along the coast. He also looks aorund the beach and reems for signs of the Grindylow.
I know the map looks like there should be room, it may just be an artifact of trying to show where the reefline starts. It may be that reef gets dangerously close to the coast, or that there's Jagged rocks and such. Not sure, but the int-check heavily implied that it would be unsafe to get around the island on a boat.

I also dont' think we would be able to see the mouth of the cave if that is what it is since it is on the back of the mountain.

GM: WHere were the hanging "dead-statue" things located that Jack mentioned?

He spotted some of them in the forest and a few in the water among the reef. You can't see any from there. It will take Jack about 30 minutes at least to circle the island so you have time to get down and back to the village if you wish.

"We should head back down and take a look at thost body things jack mentioned and figure out what they actually are. They were in the forest. It'll take him a bit of time to get back, and once he does we'll know a little more about the coastline. Whadya say?"

If it's safe we can sail, but either way we have to get down, and we have a chance to explore a little more thoroughly before we get the info. Sounds good? I wonder what those body things are...

You all head back down the rocky spire without too much difficulty, helping those with poor climbing skills where needed. Reaching the beach and moving to the huts you scour the ground for a few minuted while waiting for Jack to finish his circuit of the island. You find nothing of real interest within the huts itself before Jack comes winging up the beach from the west.

Alighting on Dhaavan's shoulder he looks at you all and says Theres reef surrounding the whole island. Not sure if you could sail safely. If you all had wings it would make things a lot easier. he says in a tone that speaks volumes of what he thinks about those without the ability to fly like he can. I did see what looks like an underwater wreck on the south side of the island about half a mile out from the cliffs. Most of the island coast is rocky cliffs by the way. I didn't go into the interior as Dhaavan said to check out the coast and to be honest the jungle kind of scared me. It's so...tangled and closed off. I didn't want to go without Dhaavan. Realizing he just admitted weakness he says Yeah...and I umm...needed to make sure that Dhaavan didn't get into any trouble while I was gone. That's the real reason. I was scared for him...that's what I meant. With that he wriggles into Dhaavan's shirt and goes still.

You all get yourselves together and head into the dense jungle along the path about 50' before you find your first...statue...that Jack told you about.

The statue is grotesque. It consists of the skeleton of a humanoid creature with the skull of a large bird of some sort. The bones are covered in stylized carvings and are held together with knotted lengths of sinew.

DC 10 Heal Check:

The bones show obvious signs of being gnawed on and you surmise that that is how the bones were cleaned of meat.

"Tengu? What's that?" Asks Dhaavan, distracted as he looks closely at the statues.

What kind of Knowledge would it take to figure out the origin and nature of the carvings on the bones
Dhaavan looks with interest at the bones, looking at the designs of the carvings, perhaps drawing inspiration from the elements of the images.

heal:1d20 ⇒ 8 Somehow he doesn't manage to catch that they've been chewed.

"How do ya think they got the bone so clean? And what put them up?" He observes them with curiosity, academically and aesthetically interested. Not to the point of "liking" them, but is reacts little to the grotesque nature of the statues as he analyses them.

Identifying the Carvings:
Raw Knowledge:1d20 + 2 ⇒ (12) + 2 = 14 add 4 if they are arcane markings
HE can roll it if it's DC10 as an int check.

Edit: What kind of check would it take to tell if these are actually Tengu versus humans with bird heads stuck on.

"Hm. Looks like something chewed on the bones to get at the meat; that's why they seem so clean. Some bizarre form of totem worship perhaps? That village was deserted longer than I've been alive. It's possible that whatever happened here happened a long time ago...though that doesn't mean other things haven't happened more recently."

This island seems fairly out of the way. A good place to stash stuff or for unpleasant creatures to live. Or it's just a island full of nothing.